Àrea de coneixement:Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Ensenyament i aprenentatge

Pàgines:353 p.

Resum:

Spatial skills are vital for the academic and professional success of engineers, and it is demonstrated that they can be acquired with the right training.
University teaching has recently undergone big changes. Practical learning has acquired greater importance and its aims should be focused on the acquisition of the skills required for the future of the profession. One skill that engineers should learn is the capacity for spatial vision, which is included in the study plans for subjects involving a large amount of graphic representation.
New technologies and the possibility of modelling objects in 3D have substantially changed the process of design and representation in engineering and architecture. In traditional teaching methods, the sequence required for drawing three-dimensional objects on paper facilitated the development of certain aspects of spatial ability. With the incorporation of computer techniques, much research work has been conducted on how to use these new resources and methodologies in the teaching of engineering at a university level.
Different materials, courses and tools (either specific or included in the subjects) have been developed to strengthen to learning of spatial skills. One difficulty in such an implementation lies in measuring their validity and effectiveness. In pursuance of this line of research, it is important to determine what tests can be drawn up to improve the assessment of the spatial skills necessary for engineering students; in particular, in the design and graphic process. It is also important to determine what strategies must be employed in completing spatial tasks as well finding out which of these strategies are the most optimal. It may be deduced that stimulating the use of such strategies leads to the development of the required spatial skills.
A research survey was conducted with students belonging to the first year of an engineering degree at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, in which three spatial skills were evaluated (mental folding: DAT-SR; mental rotation: PSVT:R; and the mental cutting test: MCT) both before and after completing the course on Graphic Expression. In-depth interviews were conducted to determine the strategies employed by the students in solving these tasks. The scores in these tests were related with the strategies applied, the variables of the participants (gender, previous experience, etc.) and the evaluations of the different thematic blocks of the subject. On the basis of these results, some criteria are proposed for the strengthening of the development of spatial skills as well as providing for the acquisition of the knowledge they require.
The most efficient strategy for the successful completion of spatial tasks is a flexible strategy that enables students to choose the best one for each case. People with good spatial skills tend to employ a holistic spatial strategy, but if the task so requires (when it becomes complicated) they employ more analytic strategies, which take more time but require less effort. People with poor spatial skills encounter difficulties in the application of holistic spatial strategies. It is necessary to programme initial activities that encourage the single use of spatial strategies.
Of the three tests under study, the Mental Cutting Test (MCT) is the one that is most closely related with the skills necessary for graphic engineering. The analysis of the results and the opinion of the students confirm that the study of spatial geometry is vital for improving the development of spatial reasoning and ability. The 3D CAD enables this matter to be tackled in an in-depth manner, and it is shown that 3D modelling assists in the acquisition of spatial skills. The new technologies constitute an advance in the improvement of spatial vision capacity and have the additional advantage of providing the students with greater motivation. Furthermore, it is also necessary to encourage the use of freehand drawing.